The Purloined Planet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Cover from first publication, in The Evil That Men Do/The Purloined Planet | |
| Author | Lin Carter |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Belmont Books |
Publication date | 1969 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
| Pages | 173 |
| OCLC | 4429957 |
| Preceded by | The Thief of Thoth |
The Purloined Planet is a science fiction novella by American writer Lin Carter, the second in his Hautley Quicksilver series. It was first published in paperback by Belmont Books in May 1969 together with the unrelated John Brunner novella The Evil That Men Do as the "Belmont Double" anthology, The Evil That Man Do/The Purloined Planet. It was reprinted by Belmont Tower and by Flamingo Books (as the first British edition) in March 1975, The first stand-alone edition was issued as an ebook by Gateway/Orion in December 2019.[1]
Hautley Quicksilver is a legally licensed master thief characterized as "a futuristic James Bond/Simon Templar/Sherlock Holmes, ... suave and debonair, [but] conceited and pompous."[2]
Quicksliver is called to deal with a mysterious crime on the planet Albazar I, a place where crime should be unknown; the inhabitants have neither wealth nor strong passions, lacking therefore anything to steal or any inclination to violence. Only on arrival does he learn the scope of the problem—the entire planet is missing, apparently stolen!